Thanks for your reply mate.

What I'd really like to do is book new flights myself via easyjet and just go on the holiday instead of cancelling the whole thing. Just concerned that I'll struggle to gets a refund for just the original flights or that the accommodation I've booked will be in some way affected.

Just wish my travel agents would pick up the phone to reassure me before I shell out another £500 on more flights.

Just tried to contact travelzoo, sat listening to a "please wait your call is important to us" message for 10 minutes then a dialling tone for 5 minutes and no one picked it up. Caravan in UK for me next time.

Ed

ColinWWW wrote:

Watching interviews on the TV news, what I find absolutely incredible is that people STILL pay for holidays using debit cards. NEVER, EVER buy anything of significant value on a debit card. Always buy holidays etc. on a credit card. When you buy a holiday using a credit card you buy off the credit card company, not the dodgy holiday company. If you don't get the holiday you don't have to pay the bill.

Unfortunately Colin you are way off the mark on this and your advice is potentially damaging.
The credit card agreement is between you,the credit card company and the company you have made the payment too.

In most cases,people have made payments direct to a travel agent and not directly to Kiss. Only people showing a credit card statement with "Kiss" on it will be entitled to the credit card protection...I would be surprised if there are many who paid them directly.
For any of you that take Colins advice and don't pay ..... you will be sent to prison

You do have the same rights with a credit card and debit card now, i paid for something on my credit card last year which did not materialize and the bank refunded the money.

My mum and dad booked through A1 Travel with kiss flying on saga, not sure if they will have to rebook and pay more money. The got stung by excel 2 years ago on the day they were due to travel, the travels agents rebooked for them and just had to pay £100 more, i hope A1 will do the same for them as they are pensioners and cannot afford to fork out twice

AVRO adds flights on Kiss routes

Seat only operator Avro has added flights on former Kiss routes to help rebook holidaymakers.

Since Kiss Flights collapsed last night, Avro has added extra services from Gatwick and Manchester to Dalaman, Turkey and it says extra flights to Sharm el Sheikh are ‘likely to follow shortly.'

Avro already offers flights on routes previously offered by Kiss to Tenerife, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Dalaman, Bodrum and Antalya, Zante, Rhodes, Kos, Skiathos, Heraklion, Chania, Corfu, Kefalonia and Preveza, Sharm el Sheikh and Luxor in Egypt and Bulgaria.

Avro Managing Director Michael Vinales said: "We realise how difficult it will be for agents to secure alternative travel arrangements for their customers in what has to be the most heavily booked period of the year.

"We operate to all the destinations most acutely affected and as ever we are here to support travel agents and our retail partners.

"The quicker we move to make this process as smooth as possible for agents, the more chance we have of rebuilding confidence in our sector."

Meanwhile accommodation supplier lowcostbeds.com and transfer specialist resorthoppa.com have said that for customers affected by the Flight Options/Kiss Flights collapse they will "where possible, endeavour to cancel arrangements free of charge and will only pass on charges where we incur them directly."

With permission from Travelmole

hi james....you must be worried sick...sorry we didnt manange to get back to you sooner.....it could be good news in some ways for you.....you say you booked then paid in full with your credit card for accomodation and flight as one single payment......if so you may be covered for the whole holiday....those that seem to be in the worst mess are people who have paid for what they thought was a package ....have paid by credit card.....then found that there are two payments listed on thier bill....one to company supplying holiday and a second one to an airline for flights....meaning they are only covered under ATOL for the flight not the accomodation..............if your invoice from company is also not split into flight and accomodation you have a package and covered for whole holiday by ATOL......not certain but as you paid as one bill on credit card the credit card company is also liable to re-emburse you if ATOL doesnt.......dont despair yet

The other bit is losing your hols......so you need contact your accomodation to see how the land lies there...if you still have a booking then you need check see if your flight has been paid for and still on...if not look into if you can get a new flight.....tweetie

I have a confirmation from Qwerty travel for a full price with their booking reference not breaking it down into flights and hotel but it does say they are agents for Kiss Flights for the flight and You Travel for the Hotel with a booking reference for each.

So the question is is this a "Package Holiday" covered by ATOL and if it is will Qwerty be responsible for rebooking a flight for the same cost or offering a full refund.

Ed

Could someone please advise me on something...

I booked exchange weeks with RCI for the accomodation and so they basically act as travel agent and recommended Viking Airlines as a flight option, which we took.
We mentioned we'd never heard of them and they assured us they were a reliable company etc.. which we accepted.

BUT.... at no point during this discussion about Viking Air did they mention to us they would be booking the flights through Kiss, and so we of course assumed they were booking
directly with Viking, which if they had, I would not be in this position right now (trying to sort out flights TWO days before my holiday!!).

So what I want to know is that given the circumstances and the fact they bought these tickets through a third party and did not tell us at any point that they were doing this, and where
my money was actually going, surely it should be on RCI International to reclaim my money from the CAA?

Surely the onus cannot be on me to reclaim money lost to a company I never paid, and in fact had NEVER even heard of until yesterday??

Any advice please?

Thanks guys

Oska, I suggest you try to source information from someone other than your credit card company! Of course a credit card company will deny all liability and threaten you with legal action when you refuse to pay them. I didn't say they would make it easy for you. At the very least you will end up no longer a customer of theirs!
Don't take my word for it, read the advice on the financial ombudsman's site regarding this.
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/31/creditcards-31.htm
Note the line about case 21/11 where the ombudsman awarded £250 to a customer repeatedly lied to about his rights by his credit card company!
I didn't say using a credit card gave you protection from some of the crooks operating in the holiday business, but it gives you a damned sight more protection than most other payment methods.
"Some" debit cards now claim to offer the same protection as a credit card, but personally I'd rather have the money in MY account while all the months of arguing (which there will be) goes on.

hi barcelonaboy......thats bad.....I think the law needs to sort out things for the future...as when things are done this way people are taking risks they are unaware of......then when middle men are involved and sometimes more than one there is room to pass the buck....and we the passenger/holiday maker are at a disadvantage....the field need leveling out.....look at it this way

If you buy a washing machine from say C**** and you pay for it......C**** gets the washing machine from 1/ a warehouse/wholesaler.....who gets it from an importer......who gets it from 3/a manufacturer

If 1/2/or3 go bankrupt it is C**** who has to give you your money back....as it is with them you have the contract to supply.....regardless of what ever insurances are in place if goods not supplied the first point of exchange of money is the one responsible to supply the goods and claim back the cash they have used to obtain them else where.....if you paid by credit card and C**** went bust you would also get your money back as they would not be regarded as only being an agent for 1/2/or 3.....simple and sraight forward......sadly this is not the case with travel agents ect and its time the law simlified things

This isnt any help now though.....and you can only deal with the situation as it stands...my thoughts are even if it was the responsibility of RCI to get the money back ...you wouldnt see it untill they had gotten it back from ATOL .....and you would need prove kiss was never mentioned to take it further....if I was in your position I would be contacting ATOL as soon as possible to check if any there is any chance your flight is on or if they are supplying you with a new one or if you need claim for refund.....if no flight from that prospective then you need get looking for a new flight ASAP and getting your claim form in to ATOL......as thats the only way I think you are going to get your money back and your holiday situation being the way it is......and there will be lots of others looking for flights to so supply might outstrip the need.......tweetie

A bit of advice for those of you who have paid by VISA debit card (doesn't apply to Mastercard).
Go into your bank & ask them to do a 'chargeback' on any payment you have made to Kiss flights. You may find that some banking hall staff/cashiers don't even know about this, so ask to speak to someone who does!
Worth a try to see if your case fits the criteria.
As I haven't reached the required amount of posts to put a link on here just
google 'chargeback process' & look for the which.co.uk link, they explain it very well.
Hope that helps some of you!

thats correct about the chargeback form, i used it last year took about 3 weeks to sort out, my dad is covered by paying with debit card Visa, just go on to the visa site and it says you are covered

http://www.which.co.uk/advice/your-rights-when-paying-by-credit-card/chargeback-on-credit-and-visa-debit-cards/index.jsp

I hope this link is ok to put on?

I know it's correct, I used to have to do them!
It's just not common knowledge, even with some of the banking staff!

thats true not many people in the bank are aware of this form to fill in

Hi Ed,

Travelzoo is a publisher of travel deals. We are not a holiday company, travel agent or tour operator. We have a team of journalists and producers who find the best deals and then publish them on our website and in our Top 20 newsletter. When you read about the deal we would have linked to the provider of the holiday or provided the phone number to call the holiday company. We would not have taken the booking as we are a publisher, much like an online newspaper.

If you can find the deal or even say what week, to where and how you found it I would be happy to try to help.

Kind regards,

Joel Brandon-Bravo
Managing Director, UK
Travelzoo

Please could someone advise me, my daughter and two children are is Sharm el Sheikh, and are due to fly home to Manchester with Kiss on Sunday 22nd August......will Kiss honour the flight or will she have to pay for a flight back home.. I have tried ringing the tour company with no joy....

Welcome jackiebridges ... advice for holidaymakers currently overseas is available on this page of the CAA website:
http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1052&pagetype=90&pageid=11591

David

Hi Joel

Thanks for the info I now realise how you fit into the system. It was Qwerty travel that I booked with after seeing it on your top 20 email weekly post. The link was http://www.travelzoo.com/uk/holidays/greece/819701/?utm_source=top20_uk&utm_medium=email_top20 I booked for the week 27th September to 4th October from Gatwick by Viking Airways with Kiss as the agents. Must say I like your Top 20 list each week but this Kiss thing is a bit of a let down, we are pensioners so more expensive flights would mean not being able to go on this holiday.

Ed